March 17, 2017

Our Position on the Possible Hard Fork

As stated in the recently-published hard fork contingency plan, Poloniex agrees that any contentious hard fork must include replay attack protection. Without this, exchanges cannot continuously and properly operate.

Why can’t we pause markets until a "winner" emerges?

Unlike a planned fork where the block height is known, Bitcoin Unlimited can activate at an unknown date and time; therefore it is not possible to plan for such an event.

Are you going to support Bitcoin Unlimited or Bitcoin Core?

We will support Bitcoin Core continuously as BTC. In line with our current internal policy, if you have Bitcoin on balance at the time of the fork, we will make Bitcoin Unlimited available for withdrawal provided it is safe to do so. At a minimum, any new fork must include built-in replay protection. Without replay protection, we would be unable to preserve customers' Bitcoin Unlimited without halting Bitcoin withdrawals, which is unfeasible.

At this time, we have not determined whether or not we will be listing Bitcoin Unlimited.

What if I have my Bitcoin on loan at the time of the fork?

If you have Bitcoin on loan at the time of the fork, you do not have it on balance and therefore you cannot receive corresponding Bitcoin Unlimited.

Why not?

When someone borrows coins, they typically borrow them to sell immediately on the spot market to counterparties who cannot possibly be aware that the coins they bought came from someone who borrowed them. Spot traders unambiguously own their purchases, and are the rightful recipients of the coins on the new chain and they can do with them what they like, whether that is selling them to others or taking them off of the platform entirely.

The terms of the loan dictate that you will receive the same number and type of coins you loaned within X days plus the agreed upon interest.